Mercer Island, WA (October 14, 2008) – During one of the worst week's in U.S. economic history, over 400 people from five countries met in Boston to speak to the trends, issues, processes, technologies and tools driving the greening of marketing and media supply chains. The Green Media Show Conference and Expo featured two days of presentations and networking opportunities, two pre-conference workshops and thirty exhibits presented in a unique low-carbon footprint expo.

NewPage Corporation set up a transparent recording studio on the expo floor and broadcast live interviews. Podcasts went live to over 5,000 during the event with more than 10,000 subsequent downloads. See www.papertellsastory.com  A community was created during the event that is expected to continue through interaction at a social networking site the producers are setting up in response to attendee demand.

The Martin Agency, represented by senior vice president Matt Williams received the EthicMark award on behalf of the agency and the Alliance for Climate Protection at the opening reception on the evening of day one of the conference. The Agency produced "Unlikely Alliances" part of the We Can Solve It campaign.

LISA WELLMAN QUOTE

"The passion and intensity of the community assembled was amazing," said Lisa Wellman, CEO of SustainCommWorld, producers of the event. "It's heartening that one of the clear take-aways was that managing to a triple bottom line brings financial benefits and that innovation in developing sustainable communications can be a significant contribution marketers and their suppliers make to the enterprise brand value." Wellman continued, "During the final keynote and wrap up, the audience rose and gave a standing ovation. Attendees came to the microphone to state that they wanted more. They wanted a way to keep the conversations going. We're going to make that happen."

OTHER SPEAKERS ADDRESSED REAL PROJECTS

Among the keynote speakers was Michael Harrison, co-president of Timberland. He laid out his company's testing of a carbon neutral ad campaign for their new of Earthkeepers footwear products. "First, you have to give the customer what he or she wants," he said, "and that's great boots." Harrison discussed the challenges ("I have to figure out how to recycle a billboard?") and opportunities ("would consumers buy more boots if they knew this ad campaign was carbon neutral?") of marketing a brand that is committed to the community and the environment. When Timberland compared the carbon neutral test campaign with a control campaign they saw a significant positive difference. Hearing how they had developed the campaign with their agency and suppliers set themes of the next two days.

Tyler Elm, second day keynote presenter, discussed his work with Wal-Mart's "green" initiatives and the significant savings and new profit areas they saw almost immediately. He told how Wal-Mart's packaging 5-year goal is projected to create $10B in savings in the supply chain and save Wal-Mart $3.4B. He discussed Wal-Mart's project to manage 72 million pounds of reclaimed plastic a year turned a $16MM liability into a $50+MM benefit in the first year of implementation. Another example of benefits was seeing that right sizing packaging for one SKU reduced annual freight costs by $235,200.

GREEN EVENT GOALS ACHIEVED

A major feature of the event was to create as sustainable an event as possible.  This was achieved by creating all exhibit structures of recycled or renewable materials locally. Onsite handouts were limited to the show's Resource Guide, which was printed on 50% recycled paper by FlagShip Press, who is 100% wind powered. ITN International provided smart chip badges and iphone-style readers that sent all materials electronically to attendees, instead of stacks of handout onsite.

"The ease of exhibiting was exceptional and very green. We sent pdfs of our signs, did not have to ship lots of brochures due to the paperless showfloor feature and found the turnkey exhibit properties made things easy," stated Dennis Daigle, Manager Event Marketing, Xerox.

The carbon footprint for all attendee travel was captured at registration and will be offset by Community Energy.

OTHER ATTENDEES SAW VALUE: WHEN ASKED WHAT WERE THE MOST BENEFICIAL ASPECTS OF THE EVENT, THEY RESPONDED:

"Listening to the speakers, and then the conversations that were provoked with attendees was the most beneficial for me." Mercer

"Each keynote was excellent. The case studies and insight from Timberland and Wal-Mart (Tyler) were inspiring and detailed. Don's vision of the future was inspiring. Joel's overview of the green movement was terrific and well illustrated. Other sessions with case studies and anecdotes were very helpful (Time, Discover, Carbon Trust etc.)" Taunton Press

"I had informative, enlightening conversations with other speakers and attendees. I learned something worthwhile at every session I attended." Consumers Union

"What was most beneficial to me? Establishing relationships with some of the expert speakers. I view them as a resource moving forward. And I learned a tremendous amount of new information." Neenah Paper

"Gaining the information on how sustainability is smart for business financially. We feel that approaching our clients from this approach will help them see sustainable communications are about more than just being environmentally conscious... they are about efficiency in budget/materials and building brand value." Citizen Studio

"Sharing of best practices by companies who have the $$ to try things that others cannot as yet." Smith College

TOPICS CARBON FOOTPRINT ANALYSIS AND REPORTING OF HIGH INTEREST AND CONCERN

The opening session, discussing the new business metrics of sustainability, was packed with standing room only. A focus on the key standards for the assessment of greenhouse gas emissions and how carbon disclosure and reporting create new opportunities, profit centers and challenges for brands and companies was high on the minds of attendees.

Some of the many companies represented included: Aberdeen Group, Australis Aquaculture
Babson College, Banana Republic, AEW Capital Management, Allied Printing Services, Ambit Press, American Ramp Systems, Bartlett Communications, Bio-Cascade, Inc, Boston University, British Consulate, Canon Europe, Clemson University, Harvard, Cygnus Business Media, Dupont, ECRM, GBC, Humana Inc., International Labour Office, International Paper, J.D. Power and Associates, John Hancock, Met Life, New Balance, Pearson Education, Proctor and Gamble, Putnam Investments, RR Donnelly, Quad Graphics, Quebecor World, Inc.
The New York Times, The Prudential Insurance Co. of America, The Taunton Press, UBS Investment Bank and the United Nations.